Responsibilities of a Governing Board
The Governing Board plays a strategic role, in contrast to the Head Teacher and staff, who are responsible for implementing plans and policies established by the Governing Board.
The Governing Board of a school is responsible for ensuring that the school is run to promote pupil achievement.
More specifically Waltham St Lawrence’s Governing Board is responsible for working with the rest of the school team in fulfilling the school’s mission statement
“Our mission is to provide inspiration and opportunities for all children to achieve their potential and become confident, independent individuals with key skills for lifelong learning.”
Its duties include:
- setting strategic direction, e.g. involvement in School Improvement Plan
- reviewing and approving school policies, e.g. Health and Safety, Special Educational Needs, Behaviour
- approving the school budget
- reviewing progress against the school’s budget and objectives
- making sure the curriculum is balanced and broadly based
- appointing, challenging and supporting the head teacher
- appointing staff, reviewing staff performance and approving pay scales
How a Governing Board operates
A Governing Board has considerable discretion as to how to discharge its responsibilities, but is required to constitute itself in line with a variety of regulations and to appoint a Chair and Vice Chair. The Governing Board may delegate certain of its responsibilities to certain governors and to committees of governors.
Waltham St Lawrence’s Governing Board meets as a whole on average 10 times a year. It does not have any committees, but instead each meeting of the Governing Board is allocated a specific focus i.e. Teaching and Learning or Finance and Resources . Some Governors are allocated a specific area of responsibility such as SEND, Health and Safety, Finance and Safeguarding.
Governors attend training run by the Local Authority in order to enhance their skills.
Waltham St Lawrence’s Governing Board
Our Governing Board is made up of the Headteacher, one Staff Governor, three Parent Governors, three Co-opted Governors and one Local Authority Governor.
School Governors except for the Headteacher are elected or invited volunteers. Governors are drawn from different parts of the community, such as parents, staff, the Local Authority (LA), the community and other groups. This helps to ensure that the Governing Board has sufficient diversity of views and experience.
- Parent Governors are elected by the parents. . Parent Governors should be aware of the issues of other parents; however they are not a representative for individual parents and generally do not take queries from or report back to individuals.
- With the exception of the Head Teacher, who is not elected, Staff Governors are elected by the staff of the school.
- Local Authority Governors are appointed by the LA.
- Co-opted Governors are members of the local community served by the school, and are invited to join by the Governing Board.
Individual governors have no power or right to act on behalf of the Governing Board except where the whole Governing Board has delegated a specific function to that individual.
If you would like to nominate someone or yourself to be a governor then please download the form below:
Governing Board 2024-25
Name and Responsibilities | Type of Governor | Term of Office |
Li-Juan Ellerton | Headteacher | Ex-officio |
Fiona Edwards – Chair | Parent | Sep 22 – Sep 26 |
Samantha Teague – Vice Chair | Co-Opted | Sep 23 – Sep 27 |
John Kiss | Community | Sep 22 – Sep 26 |
David Errington | Staff | Sep 23 – Sep 27 |
Kate Wilsdon | Parent | Nov 23 – Nov 27 |
Harmit Kaur Thiara | Parent | Jul 23 – Jul 27 |
Cameron Wilson | Local Authority | Jul 24 – Jul 28 |
Chair of Governors can be contacted via the School Office. | ||
Table of Register of Interests
| Name | Name of Business | Nature of Business | Date Interest started | Date Interest ended |
| Becky Bond | Cookham Rise Primary School | Teacher | September 2015 |
Governor Attendance 2023-24
Governor Type | Resigned (R ) or Term Ended (E) | Date Appointed | 19.09.23 | 5.12.23 | 9.01.24 | 27.02.24 | 19.03.24 | 07.05.24 | 09.07.24 | % | |
Rebecca Bond | Community | 01-Sep-21 | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Apologies | 86% | |
Fiona Edwards (Chair) | Parent | 01-Sep-22 | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | 100% | |
Li-Juan Ellerton (HT) | HT | Ex-Officio | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | 100% | |
David Errington | Staff | 24-Sep-19 | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | 100% | |
John Kiss | Community | 01-Sep-22 | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | 100% | |
David Hooper | Parent | E- Nov 23 | 27-Sep-18 | Present | 100% | ||||||
Harmit Kaur Tiara | Parent | 01-Jul-23 | Present | Apologies | Present | Apologies | Apologies | Present | Present | 57% | |
Samantha Teague (Vice Chair) | Co-opted | 20-Mar-20 | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | 100% | |
Sandeep Thrakrar | LA | 03-Oct-19 | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | 100% | |
Kate Wilsdon | Parent | 01-Nov-23 | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | Present | 100% |